House M.D.

I admit it. I am late to the parade on this one. There have been many positive reviews of the FOX program “House, M.D.”, which will be entering its third year next month. There have been even more plaudits for its star, Hugh Laurie.

In my view, however, I could not generate much excitement. There are three reasons why I failed to tune in before now.

First of all, the lead, Hugh Laurie, is British. That, in and of itself, is not a sin. There is a wealth of excellent British actors. Laurie is one of them.

However, in today’s world, I see no need to “stretch”. This is not the sixteenth century and we do not have to hire men to play women’s characters on stage or anywhere else. We do not have to hire have to have actors today play different genders, races, illnesses, nationalities, etc. The character, Gregory House, is an American doctor with a limp. Certainly, there are a number of American male actors with a limp who can play the part.

Likewise, we do not need Kevin Costner to play Robin Hood. That is silly. Let Hugh Laurie play Robin Hood. He would be excellent.

All that said, Laurie is nearly perfect in his portrayal of the cranky Dr. House. After watching several episodes being replayed on the USA Network, I can not picture anyone else doing it better.

Secondly, FOX has a terrible record regarding hour long drama. “23 Jump Street” and “X-Files” are the only successes I can recall the network having in twenty years. They have had plenty of success with sitcoms, reality shows and primetime cartoons, but very little in this venue. It made me leery of sampling this outing which was a late starter in November 2004.

Thirdly, after watching programs from late in the first year and early the second, there are obvious problems with the show. There is an overuse of the visual gimmick where the camera seemingly enters the patient and lets you see the horrible disease in living color. The first time it was used I found it interesting. Little did I know the writers and producers include it a couple times each episode.

Couple this with graphic surgical scenes normally left to documentaries on the Discovery Channel and even the least squeamish will find themselves turning away.

Let us not forget the pretty people. The doctors are pretty. The patients are pretty. The administrators are pretty. All the people going in and out of the hospital are pretty. Laurie is not that pretty, but the women on the show think he is, so he must be pretty too. (Wait! I forgot. This show is on FOX. Problem explained.)

My point is to explain why I was not quick to tune in, and see and hear what all the excitement was about this oddly titled program. Now I get it. The cast hits the mark, with standouts being the aforementioned Laurie and Omar Epps.

The story lines, although sometimes they have glaring holes, are interesting. The hook of course is the cantankerous doctor. Most doctors are portrayed as Robert Young style nice devoted men, or at least George Clooney/Noah Wiley good guys. Ted Danson turned things around with his bitter doctor “Becker”.

Now we have Dr. House. He believes he is smarter than everyone. He is bitter about his leg. He is unhappy with his life. Still, he is a dedicated doctor. So why does he, and his staff of three other (pretty) doctors, only take one case at a time? Sounds like a pretty cushy hospital environment.

In case you missed it during his “Superman Returns” promotional tour, Bryan Singer is an executive producer for this show. His previous successes include the X-Men movies.
With that in mind, "House, M.D." could easily be labeled either as science fiction or as a soap opera. Singer and his friends tell twisted stories that are barely rooted in reality. Yet it does make for entertaining television.

Congratulations are in order for the FOX network. My bet is that Dr. House will continue to diagnose medical problems for years to come.